How to be a phoney christian | Pastor Timothy Lee

Read your Bible. Pray every day. And you’ll grow, grow… grow? A phoney christian believes that in the christian life he has only got to have faith and believe always. A phoney christian will not admit to having doubts. He deals with doubt as something unspeakable, something never to associate with — a faith-eroding virus. When head-on with a bout of doubt, a phoney christian buries his head to do the familiar: Read my bible, pray every day… Then he goes through the humdrum, ebb and flow of this iffy thing called life. And his faith is eaten away, bit by bit, little by little.

Here are some steps you can take to move out of this phoney christian conundrum.

1. Stop laughing at doubting Thomas

There are only two types of people in this world: People who doubted, and people who haven’t doubted but will.

We’ve misunderstood Thomas. The person who doubted Jesus’ resurrection, Thomas the apostle, could be the bravest, someone who’s most in touch with his humanity that is recorded in the bible. When faced with doubt, he asked for a sign. Seek and you will find, knock and it shall be opened to you. And indeed, understanding was given and his eyes were opened.

The opposite of faith is not doubt. Thomas was not faithless when he wasn’t sure, and sought for a clarification. The opposite of faith is unbelief — a wilful refusal not to believe, a decision to disobey God when the truth has been presented before his eyes. Doubt isn’t unbelief. We are human. Human beings doubt.

2. Admit when you have a doubt

To doubt is to be indecisive or hesitant over an issue. To doubt is to be hung up between certainty and uncertainty. It’s part and parcel of life to access situations, credibility, trustworthiness, so that we get grounded in our decisions and beliefs. That said, there are people with strong faith that still deal with doubt. They fight valiant fights of faith where doubt always resides as a primary ingredient. In those times of doubt, of unsettledness, of seeking, their roots grow deeper.

Doubt is not unforgivable. In fact, when we admit to have doubts, we take on a position of humility. God gives grace to the humble. God delights when we stop hiding behind a mask of self-righteousness.

“Are you the messiah, or do we look for another?” John the Baptist asked (Matthew 11:3) in prison. A good question deserves a good answer was Jesus’ attitude in reply. Jesus expounded on that doubt and revealed to John even more than he asked for. Jesus did not rebuke or criticise him.

3. Do not go easy on that bout of doubt. Press on. Dig. Pursue.

Doubt isn’t always unhealthy. It allows us to fight and be stronger, but we will have to deal with it before it turns into unbelief (the plight of a phoney christian said previously).

When infected with doubt, resort to answer doubt. Don’t leave it untreated. Put it through some investigation. Seek, knock, find, and God will seal your pursuit with an experience. Hold your remaining questions in tension. But if you stop at doubt, it will grow out of proportion and become a mountain. That’s when it is harder to shake off doubt.

Do something about your doubt. Decide that you can win. Watch the video to find out the five steps you can take to fight a fight of faith with God when faced with this funny thing called doubt.